Workday Customer Success Packages – Are they Right for You?

Workday has a large partner ecosystem and more than 75%  of Workday implementations are done by Workday partners.  But even if you haven’t selected Workday as your implementation partner, you can still take advantage of their various tools and support to help ensure a successful deployment.  One option that is available to all is Workday’s Customer Success packages.

Though Workday doesn’t actively promote these packages, every Workday customer should at least be aware of them.

What are Workday’s Customer Success Packages?

Workday offers three different tiers of Customer Success packages (Silver, Gold, and Platinum) each with a different set of deployment and post go-live services.  You have to do some digging to find any information about them on their website so to save you time, we’ve linked to the datasheet here and summarized the packages at a high level below.

The first tier is included in all subscriptions and consists of some basic production preparedness, a post-go-live review, and check-ins.  The second and third tiers can be purchased and provide a much more robust set of services.

Some of the features the fee-based service tiers include:

• Deployment
  • Production preparedness (plus a defined number of workshops)
  • Periodic status meetings
  • Discounts on services
  • Passes to Workday Rising
• Post Go-live
  • Periodic check-ins and business reviews
  • Status meetings
  • Product touchpoint facilitation
  • Roadmap planning and maintenance
  • Discounts on services
  • Office hours appointments
  • Annual training consultation plans
  • Workday Rising annual passes

Why are They Important?

Each of Workday’s Customer Success packages include some sort of production preparedness services that could provide significant value during the implementation of Workday’s solution within your organization.  Though 3^rd-party integration partners will also provide training services, having Workday resources who have firsthand experience on how the solution is being developed and used is likely to reduce implementation risks and failures.  In addition, obtaining greater involvement from Workday could help you amplify the value you receive from your chosen system integrator (SI).

Whether you chose Workday to implement its own solution or select a 3^rd-party SI, having access to one of these Customer Success packages can also be very useful during the deployment and post go-live phases for the following reasons:

• They accelerate adoption which allows your organization to more efficiently realize the value of your Workday solutions and services much sooner.
• One of the packages includes a dedicated managing partner who will work with your organization to ensure the successful implementation of the Workday solution.
• Regular check-ins with Workday can be leveraged to escalate any ongoing issues with the Workday solution and implementation and reduce the risk of failure.
• The additional discount on deployment and post go-live services that the fee-based packages provide could end up saving you money.
• They include annual passes to Workday Rising, lowering your costs and increasing employee engagement and education.

What We Recommend

Since Workday does not always propose these package options to new or existing customers, we highly recommend that you proactively ask for information on the services they include as well as pricing information for your organization.

Once Workday provides you with pricing and detailed information on each of the three tiers of services, take the time to review each package and calculate the value they could provide to your company.  We have seen Workday be flexible with these, so we also recommend negotiating the price of the packages as well as the ability to cancel.

Even if you aren’t interested in any of these Customer Success packages now, it is always beneficial to have the information and pricing on hand in case anything changes in the future.  In the event that you want to expand your Workday footprint and adopt an additional Workday product down the road, you can refer back to the pricing you previously received.

Follow me on Twitter @ErwannCouesbot, find my other UpperEdge blogs, and follow UpperEdge on Twitter and LinkedIn.  Learn more about our Workday Advisory Services.

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